Spirits
by Emelinee Baconinee Tortalinee
Summary: After following the hype in Britain over the recent film remake, Ryou decides to read 'The Woman in Black'. But in doing so he uncovers not only heartbreaking memories, but also a terrible secret from Bakura's past.


AN: I don't own any Yu-Gi-Oh! characters, or the novel 'The Woman in Black'. They belong respectively to Kazuki Takahashi and Susan Hill. I apologize for any YGO canon I may have gotten wrong, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought of the fic!

Note: This is Ryou talking/Bakura emphasizing words.  
_This is Bakura talking/Ryou emphasizing words._

Late August. The afternoon was gently slipping into evening, the sun's blazing heat replaced by a soft, soothing warmth. Citizens of Domino City were beginning to settle in for the end of the day and, in his small, lonely apartment, Ryou Bakura was about to read. His father had left perhaps two hours ago, after a brief visit back from London, where he had presented his latest archaeological findings to an assembly of keen university students. He'd brought a gift back for Ryou; a short novel called _'The Woman in Black'_. Ryou's father had never quite understood his son's obsession with ghosts and the occult, and a part of him worried that feeding the obsession with the book would only make matters worse.

But Ryou, who had been eagerly following the hype in the UK over the recent film remake of the book, was determined to read it. And so now he sat on his bed, lights comfortably dimmed, eyes alight with anticipation. He began to open the book, but, before he could begin reading, a voice stopped him.

_'Host.'_ Ryou ignored the low voice in the back of his head, irritated by the interruption. He flicked to the first page of the book, when his hands froze abruptly, locked into place.

_'Host!'_ The voice was louder now, more insistent. Ryou sighed, not wanting to anger the spirit in his mind.

"What?" He asked, preferring to speak rather than aim his thoughts directly at the spirit. In his first few years with the spirit, he had communicated though his thoughts, and he'd been forced to learn the hard way how much access it gave the spirit to his deeper thoughts and feelings.

_'What is that?'_ The spirit asked him, gesturing to the book clutched in Ryou's hands. The motion felt robotic and wooden, and Ryou struggled against the trapped sensation that was aroused whenever the spirit snatched control of his body. The spirit was strong though, and eventually Ryou was forced to give up.

"It's called a book, Bakura." He settled for dry sarcasm, bitterly enjoying the satisfaction at his small victory when Bakura snarled, clearly insulted by the jab at his intelligence. He angrily dropped the book, moving one hand to snatch Ryou's other wrist. His grip was tight enough that a soft whimper of pain tore out of Ryou's mouth, and his triumphant feeling vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The bones in Ryou's wrist ground agonizingly against each other, and Ryou swallowed down the tears as he whispered a rushed, desperate apology to the enraged spirit.

_'I know it is a book, you impudent brat. What is its title?'_ The spirit demanded, and Ryou bit back his surprise at Bakura's curiosity. Why was Bakura interested in the title of some book he was reading?

_'My patience is running thin, host.'_ Bakura warned him, tightening his hold on Ryou's wrist threateningly. Ryou, unable to bear the pain any longer, knew he had no choice. He had to do as the spirit told him.

"I-It's the _'Woman in Black'_, Bakura." Ryou stammered, and in his head, Bakura snorted derisively.

_'The book of that film you've been obsessing over for months? And here I thought there was a limit to how pathetic you could get.'_ The cutting remark stung Ryou, but he ignored it. With fresh determination he wrenched his hand free of Bakura's iron grip, taking advantage of the spirit's momentary shock to snatch the Millennium Ring. It began to glow angrily as Bakura's shock turned to outrage.

_'Don't you dare!'_ The yell was like the blow of a hammer against Ryou's skull. Ryou clutched his head, dropping the Millennium Ring back against his chest as Bakura's exclamation echoed painfully in his mind. The laughter, cruel and grating, that followed only intensified the pain. Ryou had never felt pain like this before. Bakura often resorted to physical violence, but he'd never assaulted his mind. Ryou was defenceless to this new agony, unable to escape the torturous laughter ringing in his ears that made his head feel as though it was about to split open from the pain.

"One day... One day I'll get rid of you." Ryou whispered, as much to convince himself as Bakura. He sensed scorn from the spirit; a harsh disbelief.

_'I'll find you again.'_ Bakura replied, but Ryou didn't let himself feel afraid. Bakura was confined to the Millennium Ring. Ryou was not.

"Then I'll get rid of you again. As many times as it takes." Ryou's resolve faltered somewhat as he spoke, the disgusted anger emanating from Bakura chilling him to the core. The Ring glowed brighter, the metal burning Ryou's skin as a wavering shape began to take form next to him. Ryou recoiled from the sight of Bakura, who sneered and curled his ghostly fingers tightly in Ryou's hair. His head was yanked forward, until Bakura's burning red eyes filled his vision.

_'You cannot run forever.'_ The ancient spirit spat at him, only loosening his grip on Ryou's hair after several painful seconds of silence. Although Ryou knew the spirit's words were true, he was in no mood to give up. Maybe he couldn't run from Bakura forever, but that didn't mean he couldn't fight back. Ryou turned resolutely back to his book, determined to ignore Bakura.

_'Don't ignore me.'_ The menacing tone should have frightened Ryou, but he knew from experience that Bakura wouldn't waste his energy on him. In a ghostly form, Bakura often tired fairly quickly and was forced to return to the Millennium Ring. As long as Bakura chose not to take control of Ryou's body again, Ryou knew he was at least somewhat safe. With this in mind, Ryou began to read.

He quickly lost himself in the book, sucked into the eerie world of Crythin Gifford. As the daylight hours slowly turned into night, Ryou began to regret not waiting until tomorrow to read, but once he'd started reading, he couldn't stop. As he'd expected, Bakura eventually lost interest in trying to torment Ryou, and more than once Ryou caught Bakura peering over his shoulder to read a page. Ryou felt a little anxious that Bakura appeared to share his interest in ghosts and the occult, and forced himself to push aside the nagging curiosity to find out what else they shared. As far as Ryou was concerned, the less similarities he had with Bakura, the better.

As Ryou read more of the book, and the woman in black's attacks became more frequent, Ryou became aware of a shift in Bakura's feelings. Ryou detected... what? Sympathy? Understanding? It was unlike Bakura to support the hero in any situation, and yet Bakura's feelings only grew stronger as Ryou read on. He began to sense hatred mixing with Bakura's sympathy, and Ryou started to doubt the target of Bakura's understanding. He reached out to Bakura in his mind, hardly daring to believe what he was doing. Was he actually trying to willingly communicate with the spirit? Bakura shied away from the sudden mental contact, a fierce glare twisting his harsh features.

_'I am in no mood to talk, host.'_ He snarled, but Ryou wasn't to be put off. He reached for Bakura's mind, catching a glimpse of angry, scattered thoughts a split second before Bakura punched him viciously in the chest. Pain overshadowed shock at the sudden violence, agony shooting through Ryou with every breath. He held Bakura's thoughts in his mind though, a new kind of shock chilling his blood when he finally grasped their meaning.

"You- you feel sorry for _her_?" Ryou wheezed, struggling past his winded breaths to look incredulously at Bakura. The spirit's shape had lost some of its definition, the colour faded as his burst of violence weakened him. He glared at Ryou, not saying a thing. The silence stretched out between them as Ryou recovered his breath, and he sat up to meet the spirit's cold eyes. Ryou silently gathered his thoughts together, not letting Bakura's piercing stare faze him in the slightest.

"I know you've never been a very nice person, Bakura. But you can't possibly condone the things she does." Ryou spoke softly, calmly, but Bakura looked enraged. His blood red eyes burned with centuries of fury and hate, and his lips were twisted into a disgusted, scornful sneer.

_'And what has she done?'_ He demanded. Ryou matched Bakura's glare with one of his own, growing angry. Hadn't Bakura been reading the book?

"She murders innocent children. They never did anything to her, and she still killed them! It's despicable!" Ryou answered eventually, and Bakura yanked Ryou forward by a tuft of his hair. Ryou gave a low yelp of alarm, flinching away from the spirit, who only dragged him closer again relentlessly. There was a malicious glitter in his eyes, and a bitter snarl replacing his glare.

_'Funny how everyone thinks so differently of the Pharaoh for doing exactly the same thing!'_ He spat harshly, icy cold breath ghosting over Ryou's face and sending a shudder down his spine. He didn't dare speak, recognizing the volatile rage in Bakura's eyes that suggested he was only seconds away from letting his anger take over completely.

_'My people were _slaughtered_, when I was still barely a child! All of my family, all of my friends- murdered! So the Pharaoh could have his pretty little collection of Millennium Items! You read that book, and you despise that woman for mourning the one person she loved the most! You say I've destroyed your life, but you know _nothing_ about grief!'_ There was pain hidden underneath the spirit's words, an age old agony nearly eclipsing the indignant fury in his eyes. Ryou tore free of the spirit's grip, eyes blazing. He fiercely shoved Bakura, so Ryou was left looking down on him in disgust.

'I know _nothing_ of grief? Before you stole my life, I already knew the grief of losing someone you love! I was a _child_ when my sister Amane and my mother died! I was a _child_ when my father all but abandoned me to his work. My life had already been destroyed _long_ before I ever met you!" Ryou's voice trembled with a mixture of rage and agony, tears blurring his vision of the watching spirit. The second he'd said Amane's name, the full, crushing weight of Ryou's grief hit him. Her death had shattered him, and every memory of her sweet, smiling face destroyed any healing effect that time had had. Nine years, five psychiatrists, and it only took one smile to break him.

Bakura, having no idea of the flood of memories but seeing the heartbreak on Ryou's face, only sneered up at the young boy.

_'If you really know so much grief, then how _dare_ you sit here and hate that woman? How _dare_ you try and stop me getting the revenge I deserve on the Pharaoh for destroying my life?'_ Bakura's breathing was heavy, and anger had darkened his red eyes so much so that they were almost black. It was a frightening sight, but Ryou ignored it, forcing aside the guilty feeling growing in his heart.

"_I_ have never killed an innocent child! _I_ have never wished someone dead!" Bakura only laughed at Ryou's fierce words, not believing him for a second.

_'Is that so?'_ Ryou nodded, but the spirit wasn't finished. He harshly twisted Ryou around to face the window looking down on the street below, and pointed down at two people walking past the block of apartments. Ryou recognized them as a young woman and her daughter who lived close to him. Their names were Natasha and Sabina, and Ryou felt a familiar mix of anger and grief begin to stir inside him as he looked at their wide, carefree grins. Bakura, sensing Ryou's new emotions, smirked with satisfaction.

_'Then tell me honestly when you look at those people that you don't wish they were dead instead of your mother and sister. Tell me honestly that you don't hate them just for being alive.'_

Ryou couldn't. The more he watched the mother and her child, the angrier he felt with them. It sickened him to know that the spirit was right, and yet at the same time, he couldn't bring himself to take back all of the vicious thoughts he'd had about the two. They had done nothing wrong- they were actually the closest thing Ryou had to friends on this street- but there was not denying the bitter loathing Ryou felt every time he saw them. Why should they be allowed to live such wonderful, happy lives, when Ryou's sister and mother were lying in graves on the other side of the country? Why did they deserve to live when Amane and their mother had been taken from Ryou long before their time?

With some difficulty Ryou tore his eyes away from the window, disgusted with himself. Hating innocent strangers wasn't going to bring back the people he'd lost, and he had to accept that. But would Bakura? He opened his mouth to speak, but Bakura cut in before he could talk.

_'Don't even dare to think you can change me, host. Yes, I am a thief. Yes, I have tortured and killed many people. But don't you _dare_ presume that means my revenge is not justified, or my grief is not as strong as yours_. You_ still have a place to visit the ones you've lost. All _I_ have is _this_.'_ Bakura plucked the Millennium Ring away from Ryou's chest, who looked confusedly down at the gleaming gold metal.

_'Do you understand now, the sacrifice my people made? Do you understand now, why I want all seven Millennium Items so badly? Not just for their power! They are all I have left of Kul Elna, and I want them _back_!'_ The spirit hissed, and all at once, Ryou felt a terrible ache of sorrow in his heart. There was disgust mingling with the sadness, at the sudden realization that the cold metal against his skin had once been a _person._

"Bakura... I had no idea-"

_'I don't want your pity!'_ Bakura interrupted him suddenly, his voice indignant. _'Your pity means _nothing_ to me! You just needed to know that the Pharaoh is not the perfect hero you like to see him as.'_ Ryou flinched at the interruption, not fully believing Bakura. There was a harsh loneliness behind the spirit's words, a desperate need for support that he couldn't quite hide. When Ryou glanced down, he could see the spirit's hand still gripping the Millennium Ring so tightly his knuckles were white. Or they would have been, had the rest of Bakura not already been so ghostly pale. Slowly, Ryou lifted one hand to touch the surface of the metal. Bakura stiffened, expecting Ryou to try and remove the Ring, but Ryou did no such thing. Instead he gently closed one hand over Bakura's, forcing himself not to recoil from the icy feel of the spirit's skin. He felt cold like stone, yet Ryou could feel Bakura's steady pulse under his fingers, and the humming energy of the Millennium Ring beneath his hand. Bakura made no move to pull away, baffled by the sudden contact. There was a heavy silence, neither boy sure of how to proceed.

Eventually, Ryou found the courage to speak to the spirit.

"I'm not going to lie to you. You've done a lot of horrible things, even if it is just to get your family back. You're cruel, and rude, and violent, and I honestly can't stand you most of the time. But..." This was where Ryou struggled to continue, slightly reluctant. The spirit looked more insulted with every word Ryou said, but he was too intrigued to interrupt the boy. He watched silently as Ryou took a deep, calming breath, before continuing.

"But I'm not going to let you suffer on your own." Ryou finished in a rush, as though afraid he'd change his mind if he hesitated too long. He watched Bakura warily for a response, but the spirit was too stunned to reply. He searched his mind for some kind of scathing remark, but there was only a sickeningly strong sense of gratitude. Disgusted with himself, Bakura jerked away from Ryou, before vanishing completely. Ryou was left clutching the Millennium Ring, brooding over Bakura's reaction. For a split second, he had seen the sudden relief in the spirit's eyes, followed by terrible anger. It would be next to impossible to get though to Bakura like that again- but then, Ryou couldn't just give up and not even bother trying.

Ryou sighed. His next confrontation with the spirit would be a difficult one, and all he could do now was wait for Bakura to show his face again. He glanced towards the open book left abandoned beside him, then pushed it aside. He'd had more than enough of angry, vengeful spirits for one day.

AN: I think this is the first time I've actually managed to write Bakura in character. I really hope you enjoyed reading this oneshot, and please leave a review!


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